A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Yan Fu moved very quickly, and brought Li Yu a purple clay pot two days later.

Li Yu looked at it for a long time and asked, "Such a small thing is worth 800 taels of silver?"

Yan Fu picked up the pot and explained to him: "This pot is made of fine sand, which is as shiny as jade and feels very warm to the touch. Look at Shao's exquisite workmanship, the handle, the knob, and the spout are three points and one line; The lid of the pot fits very well with the body of the pot, and the gaps are very uniform everywhere. The inner spout is also symmetrical, and the chamfering is done very carefully.”

Sure enough, it is an expert who can tell the truth. Li Yu compared it with the ordinary teapot at home, and it seems that there is really a big difference.

Pick up the purple clay pot and take a closer look. There is still fine purple sand, and there are author Shao's seal on the bottom, inside and bottom of the handle.

Li Yu clicked his tongue and said, "I definitely wouldn't drink such an expensive thing for tea."

Yan Fu stroked his beard and said with a smile: "No, if it is used for drinking tea, there will be a lot of fun in it."

He filled the pot with water, poured water out separately from the ordinary teapot, and asked, "Do you see the difference?"

Li Yu pointed to the teapot and said, "The water coming out of this teapot is very smooth, round and powerful; while the water coming out of the other ordinary teapot is really scattered and weak."

Yan Fu laughed loudly: "The words of tigers and wolves."

Yan Fu then took out another small teacup: "A good pot should be paired with a good bowl, this Jiancup, please accept it and give it to Brother Feng Sheng."

Yan Fu is really giving too much face, the value of this high-quality Jianzhan is much higher than that of the purple clay pot.

But Li Yu really didn't understand, and asked, "How much? I'll pay Master Yan."

"No need," Yan Fu smiled, "it's not worth a few dollars, as long as you treat my Bicheng well, I'll be happy, because a heart is priceless."

Li Yu put it away carefully: "Thank you, Master Yan, for your instruction."

Yan Fu said: "How about it, do you want to make some tea sets in the future?"

At least Li Yu is not very interested in these things at the moment: "I still believe in the principle of minimalism, just like Occam's razor, if it is not necessary, don't add entities."

Yan Fu became interested: "You still know philosophy."

The two immediately started chatting aimlessly.

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Jinwei Zhaoxue saw that Lu Bicheng was not there during this time, and wanted to get close to Li Yu, but Li Yu didn't give him any chance.

Then she could only go to Military Officer Aoki to report to her superiors, but Tou Shanman and others were not there, leaving only some liaison officers.

After all, the Russo-Japanese War has reached a critical moment.

Although the Japanese army captured Lushun, the 37 Russian army was ready to go south.At this time, Japan has run out of ammunition and food, can not provide any support, and can no longer raise a penny in the international capital market.

Japan's casualties in the Battle of Lushun reached half of the troops invested. This ratio is very terrifying.

At this time, the Japanese army in the Liaodong Peninsula could not wait for domestic material support, so the 25 army could only go north to actively seek a decisive battle with the Russian army.

Bet, still bet.

In short, Tou Shanman and the others are already devastated, and they all ran to the northeast.

Konoe Zhaoxue had no choice but to leave a message to the liaison officer and then go back.

When I returned to the mansion, I saw Li Yu writing a letter in the study with a happy face, probably from Tianjin.

Jinwei Zhaoxue felt a little sore in her heart, but recovered quickly and returned to her bedroom.

It was indeed a letter sent by Lu Bicheng from Tianjin. She anxiously asked about Li Yu's situation:

"Why did you catch the wind and cold? Grab ephedra, cinnamon twigs, windproof, tangerine peel, peony, licorice, ginger, scallion and other medicines quickly, for the best!"

Li Yu wrote back immediately: "The cold is only six or seven days old, it's already gone, don't read it."

In addition, he wrote a poem by Yu Guangzhong:

"Between the moonlight and the snow,

You are the third kind of stunning. "

On the way back from sending the letter, Li Yu suddenly ran into Liu Chunlin, who had already been selected as the No. [-] scholar.

"My lord, congratulations! I heard that you won the Swedish award again." Liu Chunlin congratulated.

Li Yu also cupped his hands and replied: "We are all happy together, Your Excellency is the number one scholar in high school and is famous all over the world."

Liu Chunlin smiled and said: "The emperor's master is famous all over the world, I just live in a corner. In the past few months, I have read reports about the emperor's master and read many translated articles on Western learning. I am quite impressed by the vastness of the world. I saw a wellhead. So I am going to study abroad in Japan this year.”

Having already won the first prize, it is said that he can wait to become an official, but Liu Chunlin is quite aggressive.

Li Yu praised: "Zhuangyuan Lang has made further progress, which is admirable."

Liu Chunlin said: "I should learn from Senior Zhang Jian, otherwise I would have read dead books."

The world has always ridiculed stereotyped essays, but in fact, after reaching the level of the general examination and palace examination, it is not stereotyped at all, and the requirements are quite high. It belongs to a comprehensive style of calligraphy, literature, policy theory, politics, and history.

Especially in the last imperial examination questions in the late Qing Dynasty, there were even such questions:
"At the beginning of Japan's reform, the country was strengthened by employing Westerners; Egypt employed foreigners to more than a thousand people, so it lost the power of financial judgment, and the country was weak. Let's try to explain the pros and cons of the pros and cons."

It is for you to demonstrate the reforms of Japan and Egypt, why Japan succeeded in learning from the West, but Egypt led to "the country's insufficiency", and why it failed.

Then there was a question about the policy of the United States towards Chinese workers and immigrants.

In short, it can be regarded as cutting current events, especially the time of the Russo-Japanese War.

Therefore, those who can go to high school must read newspapers to understand the latest current affairs news, as well as understand Western history and politics.

Of course, the limitations of the imperial examination are still too great, and the abolition is already a certainty. After all, there are no modern disciplines at all.

Liu Chunlin invited: "Today, the Xinke Scholars are going to hold a gathering at the Confucian Temple. Would you like to see the emperor?"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Forget it."

Liu Chunlin said: "Emperor, don't worry that everyone will attack Western learning. In fact, as far as I know, the top three are interested in studying abroad in the East, and you know Western learning best, and the Beijing Normal University also sent several teachers to participate. .”

The Beijing Confucian Temple is next to the Lama Temple, and the construction specifications are very high. At the same time, there is also the Imperial College next to it.

Li Yu had no choice but to agree: "Sir, get in the car."

Liu Chunlin has always been curious about Li Yu's car. The last time there was a driver for the car, this time Li Yu got into it by himself.

"The emperor has so many skills." Liu Chunlin was amazed.

Li Yu said: "Driving a car is much easier than riding a horse. When you go abroad, many concepts will be completely refreshed."

Liu Chunlin felt a little sad: "A millennium culture is no match for a giant steel beast."

Li Yu quickly comforted and said: "I have emphasized many times that the two do not conflict."

When they arrived at the Confucian Temple, Zhu Ruzhen, Tanhua Shang Yanliu and others were already waiting here.

Zhu Ruzhen was as unlucky as Zhu Guozhen in the previous session.

Originally, when the palace examination was over and the ministers reviewed the papers and sent up the list, No. 1 was Zhu Ruzhen.

As a result, Cixi once again "selected people by name", and she disliked Zhu Ruzhen's name very much when she saw Zhu Ruzhen's name. Zhu was the surname of the former dynasty, and "Zhen" was associated with Zhenfei; They are all fellow villagers.Cixi always felt that Guangdong was her nemesis, so she didn't like it even more.

Looking at Liu Chunlin's name again, it is very good. The word "Chunlin" contains the meaning of spring wind turning into rain and rain falling everywhere, and he is from Zhili.

Then Cixi named Liu Chunlin the champion.

The sound of the car caught everyone's attention. Seeing this, Zhu Ruzhen smiled and said, "The ancients said that the spring breeze is proud of the horseshoe disease, and brother Chunlin is the spring breeze's proud driving disease."

Liu Chunlin also smiled and said, "It's thanks to the emperor driving, otherwise I'm afraid I'll arrive half an hour at night."

Zhu Ruzhen and the others were somewhat astonished when they saw Li Yu's short hair and suit image: "Master Emperor, you really look like a foreigner!"

Among the crowd was Gu Hongming, the number one lunatic in the Republic of China. Gu Hongming stepped forward and asked, "Li Yu! Why are you here?"

Li Yu made a gesture of driving: "Do you believe me when I say that I am a driver?"

Gu Hongming said: "Now the newspapers have praised you like a god in the sky. I have studied your Western learning lecture notes again, and now I have some insights, and I am preparing to continue to study in depth."

Tanhua Shang Yanliu asked: "Gu Jiaoxi has been abroad, hasn't he been studying Western learning?"

Gu Hongming said: "Compared with Li Yu, I am worthless in Western learning, especially in science."

Li Yu couldn't think of such a big fan like Gu Hongming saying so, and said with a smile: "There is a specialization in surgery."

Several of these Jinshi will study abroad.Among the second-class and third-class, there are also several well-known ones, such as Tan Yankai, who later served as the principal and Song Meiling's introducer, and became the dean of the Executive Yuan; and Shen Junru, the founder of the Democratic League.

What's interesting is that as Jinshi in the late Qing Dynasty, many of them eventually became gravediggers in the Qing Dynasty.

The Forest of Steles for Scholars in the Imperial College had already carved their names, and Li Yu said, "It's not easy to get together, why don't you take a photo together."

Liu Chunlin asked: "With so many people, can they squeeze into the photo studio?"

Li Yu said, "It's good to be here."

He took out his Kodak portable camera: "Everyone line up."

Li Yu found a student from the Imperial College, and after showing him how to operate it for a while, he came to the crowd, but before he could say "eggplant", the student had already pressed the button.

Come soon.

Li Yu took the camera and said, "After the photos are developed, I will give each one a copy."

Photos were still a rarity at this time, and everyone was immediately delighted that a small box could take pictures, and at the same time felt the need to learn new things in depth.

When leaving, Gu Hongming couldn't help but praise: "Your Excellency always has a way to infect others, you are simply a genius in communication."

Li Yu shrugged: "It's not me who infects everyone, but the new era."

When I got home, not long after, it was the Chinese New Year.

During this period of time, Li Yu had nothing to do, so he wrote and studied the equipment of the research laboratory.

However, Li Yu has written many papers in the past few years, and the statement is enough to last for a long time, and he has gained a reputation, so he can do many things smoothly.

Therefore, this year, we can set off to the far northwest to save a huge historical regret in the Hexi Corridor——Dunhuang.

In the era of traffic jams, this trip would take almost a year, but if it works, it is definitely worth it.